A Cup of Coffee
by Flicker's Owner
Summary: "If your older brother was really evil, he probably would do that for the two things he loved: his devotion for science and you…Rex." The sequel of fanfic "Ambiguous" a story about study case character of César Salazar.


**Hello and thank you all for reviewing the previous fanfic "Ambiguous". You don't have necessarily the previous fanfic but feel free to read it and review if you wish. It'll make me happy hehehe. This is the promised sequel, please. I thank you Bing for reading it, giving ideas and editing some of the plots.**

**Warning: I don't own Generator Rex and grammar Beta reader. English is not my first language and neither is Spanish**

**This was set after the episode "Written in Sand" and the Prologue before episode "Night Falls."**

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**"If your older brother was really evil, he probably would do that for the two things he loved: his devotion for science and you…Rex." The sequel of fanfic "Ambiguous" an story about study case character of César Salazar.  
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"_You may be deceived if you trust too much,_

_but you will live in torment unless you trust enough."_

_~Frank Crane_

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**A cup of coffee**

Even though they looked alike, both of them were acting like strangers toward each other. Ever since the previous and unnoticeable argument, César had respected his brother's wish to be away from him. He didn't ask any question to Rex again. He didn't talk to his little brother, only nodding or acknowledging his presence and then César would retreat to his own lab, returning to his job…whatever that is.

There was one time when Six called Rex because that agent discovered a huge hole on the wall of the corridor.

"What is the meaning of this, Rex?"

"...uh..." Rex wasn't sure how to answer that. He had a small fight with his brother last night. Though it was more like his emotion went havoc and he lash out at César. He wasn't sure how to answer that urgent question. So he decided to play dumb, "Someone broke in?"

"It looked like the pattern of your EVO form hand." Six was urging the facts. Of course, the trained agent couldn't be fooled that easily.

"I…"

Then suddenly someone placed a hand on his shoulder from his back. Rex looked back...and that hand belonged to César.

Before Rex could react, his older brother gleefully spoke, eyes on the green clad agent in front of them, "Oh, Six! I'm sorry about the nasty hole on that wall. You see...I've made a small spider robot for spying device, it went malfunction and escaped. Rex found it first, so I asked him to destroy it before it went out of control. Since that robot was a weeee bit indestructible, I requested Rex to use his EVO hands. So yeah, it's my bad not his."

Six raised an eyebrow. He wasn't pleased, but it seemed he accepted the lie. "If you make something strange again, don't use your brother to finish your dirty work...EVER."

"Got it boss, so sorry for that." César nodded.

"Make a report about this and I want that mess clean up."

"_Sí_…"

Six left immediately.

When the Salazar were alone, César asked his little brother without looking at him his hand was still on his shoulder.

"I wouldn't ask for forgiveness..." César spoke, "But I was thinking…maybe I should make something it up for our last night argument."

"Make it up?"

"Uhm..." César rubbed the back oh his head, he still didn't make eye contact with Rex, "If you want, we could go to Mexico together."

Rex narrowed his eyes, "César that's stupid. It won't happen, Six rarely trust me with someone else alone. Going to Mexico together with you? You expect we'll be okay after that?"

"Yeah...maybe it's too stupid." César lowered his head. He had expected a rejection so he left.

When Rex looked at his brother's back there's a pang inside Rex's chest but he ignored it. So what if César was saving his trouble? He was trying to hide their last night's argument for his own sake too. It was more like win and win situation, right?

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"You're not concentrating." Doctor Holiday informed him. She was writing down Rex's Nanites state, accompanying the EVO teen in simulation room. The charts result didn't look so well.

"I'm trying." Rex sighed. He was currently in simulation room, practicing his skills but he kept failing. Seeing there's no point on continuing, he gave up and sat on the floor.

Nevertheless, the Doctor was concern of Rex's well-being. The EVO teen had failed his simulation test seven times. It was clear that there's a major problem that was influencing his emotion. It was slowly ruining his concentration. His Nanites reacted wildly when he trained, definitely not a good sign.

"Something is troubling you, isn't it?"

"…" Rex then muted, he wasn't sure how to reply that question.

"Do you…want to talk about it?"

"Thanks for the offer, Doc. But no offense, I don't think you'll understand the whole problem here. It's not really that big, you know?"

"It is a big problem, Rex." Holiday urged, "It was overshadowing your attentiveness. You can't go on like this."

"Doc, I'm fine."

"All right, Rex. If that's what you want." The doctor nodded, "But you had to talk with someone about your problem, Rex. If this keeps getting in your head, it would be a major obstacle."

Rex realized that Dr. Holiday was right. He needed someone to discuss this problem. He didn't exactly need a pep talk. He wanted someone who can share his theories and possibilities... Theories about whether his brother was evil or not.

But who should he talk with?

Doctor Holiday was reliable…but she was mostly talk negative things about César and even though she was right, it wouldn't make Rex better or answering the entire questions in his head. She could also be more paranoid to his older brother, and she would inform Six about that.

Six was the worst choice, because he never trusted César. If he heard his last problem his older brother, that agro agent would do anything to shove that man away from his life forever. Six protected Rex very seriously and he would use violence if it necessary.

Bobo…couldn't keep a secret. Especially when he heard that César could be a threat to Rex…and if White Knight knows about this, his brother would be doomed.

Rex was no longer wanted to be left in the darkness of uncertainty. But he didn't want to put César into trouble or worse. The EVO teen needed someone to talk and keep the secret securely, someone who can talk without defending or accusing his brother.

"I would give you some time to think about it." Holiday's voice waking his train of thoughts, and then she continued, "You may go off outside Providence for a while, if you wish."

Suddenly Rex had remembered someone. He's a perfect fitting…

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It was not surprising if Rex found Noah in the middle of trouble. Either it was because of Noah's friendship with a famous EVO or it was his sudden popularity through table tennis competition, many gangsters from others schools came out to challenge him. From afar outside the school building he saw his human friend was cornered by two bullies. One was about Noah's age the other was older.

"R-Rex…" Noah startled noticing his friend's presence.

"Hey Noah, what seems to be the problem?"

"It's Gerard." Noah sighed, pointing his finger at the bully of his height, "I have beaten his betting with some loops in BMX yesterday, but he didn't admit that he's lost."

"That's because you were cheating Noah!"

"I didn't!" Noah snapped at the bully and then he turned back to Rex, "And now he brought his older brother to compete with me."

Rex immediately went defensive, "Hey, take someone on your own size!"

Gerard's older and taller brother gave a feral smile, "All right, let us have a BMX competition."

"Uh… Rex?" Noah whimpered, "Do you ever ride BMX before?"

"BMX? Are you kidding? That should be easy pie!" Then suddenly Rex whispered naively to Noah, "What is BMX, anyway?"

Noah's eyes twitched, "BMX is Bicycle motocross. It's like skateboarding you have to make loops and acrobatic stuffs with bicycle."

"Does it felt like riding my own EVO formed Ride?"

"No..." Noah groaned, "We're officially doomed."

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Few hours later, Noah's unfortunate prediction went true. The competition with BMX was done too early, Rex and Noah would win that fight, but the problem was…

BOOOOOOM!

Rex had accidentally destroyed their skating track. Gerard and his brother won the competition while Rex and Noah were left in humility because they were disqualified. Gerard, his brother and the crowd left the place immediately. The losers sat on the wrecking tracks, worn out from the competition.

"I'm sorry I messed up, Noah."

"Well…" Noah laughed lightly, "You're trying to help, I couldn't complain about that. Besides, though we lost the game, we did it the awesome way. If you didn't come, Gerard's brother would kick my ass."

"Yeah, maybe if I do well, we could shove it to their faces."

"You were trained to destroy, fighting against EVO or cure them. This is probably not your thing, at least not BMX." Noah chuckled again. Then, he had an idea, "Speaking of older brother, maybe César could help. Who knows? Probably he's going to hijack those street punks and the victory will be ours."

Rex froze for a while. He huffed and commented, "Yeah, right…"

Noticing the changing tone in Rex's voice, Noah asked, "Is something troubling you…?"

"Nothing, I just don't want to talk about him, okay?"

"That's weird. I thought you always wanted to find your family or any person who was connected to your past."

"Yeah, but… For some reason, I'd rather not know anything about my past or my origins."

"What?" Noah startled, "What's wrong? This isn't like you."

"Look Noah, what would you do when you find out that your family was the cause of all of the things we've fighting?"

His blond friend didn't understand completely, "What do you mean?"

"You know? The Nanite explosion."

"Wait…you're saying that your brother might be the cause of that?"

"I'm not sure." Rex sighed, "I don't have any evidence for that. But few days ago I met Van Kleiss in sandstorm and he started meddling with my mind…and he told me that César was the cause of the entire catastrophe."

"How did that happened?"

"It's a long story."

"I have all the time I need to listen to you. So how did that happen?" Noah urged.

When Rex sat down to the wrecking wood surface, the first thing he did was pulling out his ear plug communicator and some tracking devices. On his side Noah examined his friend, letting his EVO friend took all the time he needed to destroy the entire trackers and earplug as if he was swatting pesky bugs away from him.

"I guess this conversation is serious, considering you don't want anyone to hear what we're talking about."

"Okay, so maybe I lied. It's getting on my mind too much. I need your opinion and I want to get this thing out of my head, close this case so I can go back and do my job and never think that again, ever!"

Rex leant on the ground, but his thoughts remained to elder Salazar. So Rex started talking… It first, it was about everything from the day he was lost in sandstorm with Van Kleiss. But Rex wasn't patient enough. Right after telling his story. He asked all of his numerous questions.

"What's with Van Kleiss truce in the sandstorm? Did he speak the truth? Did my brother cause all of this? Was Van Kleiss lying? What is César's exact purpose in creating ZAG-RS? Why did he put our mother's voice in it? Why is he hiding too many facts from me? Why he kept saying that he cared about me even after I seized him last night?"

There are too many questions that Noah hadn't registered to his brain. But the last one had startled him.

"You seized your brother?"

"I didn't mean that to happen. But it's too late anyway. I tried to avoid César lately after what Van Kleiss told me. We crossed each other's path last night and suddenly he asked me why I'm avoiding him."

"-and, your answer?"

"I played words, insulting him, but he annoyingly kept asking." Rex shrugged, "Then there's some point where I lose myself, I got cracked. He hid something from me…something big, from his own brother! I accidentally activated my Smack Hands. He defended himself with his electro magnet device. He hurt my hand and then he got hesitated. I seized him and then dare him to attack me again with that device. But he refused and threw it away instead…"

"Then, what happened?"

"I told him, I don't know him anymore. But he told me he didn't want to hurt me. That's why he was throwing that item. I'm not sure if he's lying or not. But I didn't know what to do so I released him. It's just…" Rex sighed, "I'm kind of confused…Is my brother evil? Am I'm paranoid for thinking my last remaining family could be a villain?"

Noah nodded. He didn't react much from Rex's story, "Actually, I think you should be worried."

The Hispanic teenager looked at Noah, "What?"

"Well, I wouldn't complain if you're worrying about your brother's honesty, though I would cool down if I were you. To me, you brother is much a bigger threat than Van Kliess. It's not a wonder if you should be cautious around him."

Rex snorted, "César, a threat more than Van Kliess? You must've been joking, Noah. He didn't defend himself when he saw an EVO for the first time. I thought he would dead in few minutes if I wasn't there to stop it."

"You doubt my theory? Okay, let us have a comparison check on which one is a bigger threat between Van Kliess and César! The first question is, what would Van Kliess do to rampage the Providence base?"

"He would use Breach or Biowulf for frontier attack. If he was alone he would need a good strategy because Providence had excellent security."

"What did your brother do when he went inside Providence base?"

Rex's mouth twitched, "He…used his device."

"He pushed one button and the Providence's gate is opened." Noah pointed. "In terms of attacking the Providence agents, Van Kleiss must have more exertion. He needed about few minutes or hours to dominate the entire Providence agents or he would turn all of them into mutated EVO one by one. What did you brother do?"

"I've seen the security camera. He used gas bomb…and sonic-wave handheld device. He did it in few seconds, all of soldiers were KO'd and he did it…without a scratch on his body." Rex's mouth twitched continuously.

"In terms of fighting Six? Everyone needed to think twice before fighting your agro caretaker, unless they're EVO without minds. What did your brother do?"

"He just…attacked him."

"-and he's not even a mindless EVO."

"César is a bit…mindless sometimes. He must've been thinking it was easy to fight Six."

"Still he'd done it nonetheless. Though I really wanna see how Six fight César if that happened. Can Six handle your brother's sonic-wave device?"

"Uh Noah…?"

"Oh, oh! Or maybe round one, César will win because Six doesn't aware of his sonic-wave hand held device. Round two: Six is looking another way to avoid the sonic-wave-"

"Noah, I've got a problem with a brother who might be a super-villain here?"

"Ah okay…back to the comparison! In category of creativity: What did Van Kleiss create?"

"He's the founder of 'the Pact'. He created a castle from the ground. All nature forces bow down to him."

"What did César create?"

"ZAG-RS…" Rex's mouth puckered, "He created a freaking terminator computer that almost kill us all…thrice. We could all bow down to his mighty. But he wouldn't even notice it."

"From what I've heard Van Kleiss needed you to conquer ZAG-RS. He couldn't win it alone. If your brother was there to aid to fight with that Artificial Intelligent what would he do to stop ZAG-RS?"

"He would use his voice recognition. He was her creator…unless the computer was too screwed." Rex groaned, "Boy, Van Kleiss would be pissed off if he heard what we're talking about."

"He'll be more pissed off to our next category, and I suggest you should keep quiet about it."

"What's the next issue?"

"In category of: fighting you, the secret weapon of Providence."

Rex blinked few times. Obviously, he didn't know how to reply at Noah's words.

His human friend continued, "From the day we met for the first time. Van Kliess always wanted to use you…or at least taking you to his side. If he wants to detain you, how would he do it?"

"He tried that before." Rex shrugged, "He strangled me with vines before, but I cut it down with my BFS. There's the time he almost succeed, but he used Circe to lure me. César hadn't done anything like that to me."

"Actually, I heard from Bobo that you've been seized by a bubble."

Rex's eyes twitched, "That bubble… I almost got suffocated if he didn't get there to release me. He did that unintentionally."

"In category of fighting: If Van Kleiss fight you; you wouldn't hesitate to fight back. What if César fights you…? Hm… he hadn't done anything to you beside that last night, and it was accidental."

The EVO teen rolled his dark brown eyes, "Please…what's he gonna do? Hug me to death?"

"Possible." Noah shrugged, "But you won't fight him back, right?"

"Well, he hadn't use violence…for now."

"It was mostly like you won't fight him until he makes his first move, and I'm pretty sure you will be distracted. That's quite an opening, Rex."

"…that is true."

"In terms of blackmailing you: Van Kleiss had your past or your brother's untold dark truth. Or he has to capture people you care most like Circe, me or the Providence agents. It needed more effort to do that. Your brother can humiliate you with a bunch of your embarrassing childhood memories." Noah grinned, especially when Rex's face went red immediately, "I'm looking forward to hear your stupid kiddies story."

"I hate you…" Rex murmured.

Noah ignored him and continued, "We should move in category of using you, Van Kliess had tried to manipulate you all the time, but you're always escape. Here's the scariest part, your brother…can manipulate your nanites. Whoa…Van Kleiss would get his hands over his device if he knew that. "

Rex froze. He couldn't move, "_Ay caramba_…" He whispered, "Now I realized that my brother is scarier than I've thought."

"True, but this is the part where I couldn't exactly think he's the bad guy. If César was this powerful, why didn't he screw you and the Providence in the first place? We just ruled out all of possibilities that he could conquer you and the Providence in just few hours."

"He buys himself some time?" Rex titled his head.

"To me it's the same as wasting time, it's not effective." Noah shrugged, "He may be weird Rex, but he's not stupid. He's a prodigy scientist, he designed ZAG-RS. I'm pretty sure he wrote down all the possibilities and the best way to get all of it if he manipulated you from the day you met him, if he is evil."

"He just wants the Omega-1 that's inside of me." Rex sighed, "When we first met, he went looking for that Nanite instead of me…his family."

"Rex, I'm not trying to be so annoying, but I think you're overdramatic about that part."

"Now you're defending my brother?"

"I'm trying to be realistic. If your brother really wanted that Omega-1, he could still manipulate you…but he didn't. As for the part when he was looking for that Nanite, I think he was concern of the world. If you said he was keeping that Omega-1 for the sake of humanity, any logical guy would've look for it first. If the Omega-1 was misused, the world was in chaos. How can you expect him to find and protect his last remaining family in that kind of world?"

"But if it was me I would've look for him first! How did he know that the Omega-1 could've been active?"

Noah shrugged, "He did know that it was active right? It was traceable. He's another logical part why he didn't look for you first, Rex… That Omega-1 was detectable, you however, was not. Rather than he's looking for you with uncertainty, whether you're dead or not, he's looking for something that he knew it was subsist. Plus, he did it because it was his promise with you. Consider yourself lucky that he found both."

Rex pouted, he couldn't argue with that fact. But still…the thought of César placed the Omega-1 instead of him had angered the EVO teen.

"So tell me, do you think my brother is evil?"

"I'm not sure if I can answer that."

"How come?"

"The term of antagonist is usually for characters that had the same or different with the protagonist's goal but he used a different method to achieve it. We consider Van Kleiss our enemy because he has a goal, but his goal is good for EVO…just not for humans. You refuse to go with his goal because you want harmony for both humans and EVO-s. However, César's goal is…hazy."

"Maybe we should think of some possible reason why he would fight against me."

"Sure thing. What's on your mind?"

"I dunno…" Rex bit the last bit his lips for a while before replying his friend. After swallowing he came out with a suggestion, "Maybe he's jealous of me?"

Noah laughed out loud spontaneously.

"AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"

"Noah, I'm serious."

"I'm soooo…HAHAHAHA…sorrrry, Rex…. But oh, how am I going to say this nicely…? Erm… your thoughts that your brother hating you because he's jealous of you is… I don't know. It's too stupid? Maybe you're just being narcissist about your powers? Oh okay, that's not nice… That idea, it's just too telenovela."

"What's wrong with telenovela?" Rex narrowed his eyes.

"Oh well, it's not telenovela. It's just waaaaaay…to cliché."

"This is real life, Noah. It could be cliché."

"-and I'm just saying that because you're watching too much of weird plots from soap shows. César was being evil because of jealously sibling…that's a laugh. I actually get what you meant, Rex. I'm the only child in my family, but I had an aunt and uncle that spoiled me a lot. It changed once they had twin boys. Life was never being the same. What I'm saying is, jealousy sibling is common. I'm jealous and annoyed a lot by my twin cousins. But hey! So, I'm the evil one here, Rex?"

"Whoa…whoa… Noah." Rex raised both of his hands, "I just pointed out some theory I didn't know you're this upset."

"I'm not upset… I'm just…'impressed' by your wondrous theory."

"So why are you so defending my brother again?"

"He's at least ten years old when you were born, right? Because as far as I recall there's no record about a preteen kid would go obsessively jealous over a baby. César was old enough to accept that fact. Is he's feeling replaced? Oh sure…after he was being a perfect kid for his parents, suddenly you came along. I felt that way when I was no longer acknowledged by my aunt and uncle. I've been replaced, twice!…am I the evil guy now for thinking that?"

"He's over-achiever."

"He worked so hard to become a scientist so he can get his parents attention again. Your deduction is remarkable." Noah said it with a sneer.

"How come you're being so sure that he cares about me?"

"As far as I know, he's one of the scientists who created the nanites. His golden project was almost completed. It's the peak of his carrier… If he hated you, why did he give it to you, instead?"

"I was hurt. Mama, Papa or Rylander must've forced him to do it?"

"I remembered he said it to you flatly…'-it's to save you.'"

"I…"

"He still had that photo of you, him and your father, right? If he loathed you, he could've ripped your part photo. So it would be only a photo of him and his father."

"Uhm…"

"But hey, he's a scientist. He could have use the sophisticated way with Photoshop. He could erase your existence there. Really Rex, it's the 21th century, you can do anything with that software. Then again since César wouldn't buy Adobe he could've built a new kind of software. He declared that photo and eagerly wanted to show you when…you guys were attacked by EVO-s. Does this sound like a guy who hated you?"

"If he did care about me, why did he forget to find me when I was lost with Van Kleiss in that sand storm? Why was he so calm when I was lost?"

"At first I thought it was weird too, Rex. But then I came out with three possibilities for that."

"-and that would be?"

"One, César is a self-centered."

"He's narcissist?"

"Not exactly, the term of self-centered or egocentrism means two things. One: the tendency to perceive, understand and interpret the world in terms of the self. Second: the incomplete differentiation of the self and the world, including other people. The most common term of Egocentrism was the first, you often had that one. César had the second type. He's too comfortable with his own world and he wasn't aware the world outside his own lab. This is the reason why I don't believe he's jealous of you. He's too in love with his own world why is he feeling envious of your life?"

"That is...true."

"Whoa both brothers were egocentrism...it must be a Salazar thing."

"Shut up, Noah. Could you tell me the second reason, instead?"

"The second reason, your brother had ADD."

"Huh? What's that?"

"I've been learning psychology lately, Rex. ADD is abbreviation of Attention Deficit Disorder."

"...and that means...?"

"Your brother has trouble paying attention for very long or very short periods of time. I'm guessing he had the attentive type. His brain couldn't process the hormone to concentrate. He's a daydream believer, forgetful, losing things all the time. I'll doubt if he can follow directions. He gets bored easily and has trouble staying focused on tasks."

"You're saying that my brother is mentally unstable?"

"In Psychology, every human are mentally unstable...only few stay that way. ADD or ADHD are actually a common mental disease. ADD can also be associated with risk-taking behavior. While these urges can be problematic or even self-destructive, occasionally leading people into delinquency, addiction or crime. They can also lead to earth-shattering breakthroughs in the fields of the art, science and exploration, and I couldn't blame your brother for being one. Most geniuses were born with ADD or ADHD."

"Seriously?"

"Mozart, Beethoven, Thomas Alpha Edison, Isaac Newton, Vincent Van Gogh, Louis Pasteur, Galileo, Leornardo Da Vinci, Albert Einstein...they were all have ADD issues."

"The inventors were mentally unstable?...that's scary."

"My other uncle had ADD, he can be careless at his work, and he forgot to pick me up from school sometimes." Noah's tone darkened, "It's not a pleasant memory. I still remember that. But that explained a bit why César sometimes forgotten about you."

"Forgetting things is common for people with ADD?"

"It was a mental disorder that cannot be cured, but can be controllable when he was an adult. But having ADD or ADHD doesn't mean they're unable to pay attention to _anything_, it means they're unable to focus on things that don't stimulate them-once they find something interesting, beware... One thing for sure, César couldn't concentrate with anything besides science, but come to think of it César had always become normal when he's with you. That's another proof he cares you a lot, he always interest with anything related to you. In the end he's the one who suggest a new way to track you, didn't he? And you were found."

"Well, what's the third reason?"

"He's a guy."

Rex raised an eyebrow.

Noah continued, "Males had lower temperament than females. In this kind of situation, guys didn't worry much. Six kept his cool when you were missing right?"

"Six is always stoic."

"Well, probably César was too confident with your ability."

"If he is too confident, why did he go overprotective when he found me in Providence base?"

"It's rational if he acted that way." Noah shrugged, "Let's imagine you were in his place. You were in the unknown world 5 years later without knowing what the world had become after the Nanites explosion. This explained his 'space suit' when he arrived. You went to some sort of military base, walk through strangers, scientist, weird stuffs and agents armed with guns, the place was heavily guarded...and suddenly you found your little brother in the middle of it. You must've been thinking 'Oh my f*cking gawd, my little brother was held here as a guinea pig for...whatever things they've done to him!'"

For the first time after their conversation Rex had laughed and Noah joined their laugh fest. After they calmed down, the EVO teen looked up to his human friend.

"Do you think he's the cause of the Nanites event?"

"It could be possible."

"Or Van Kleiss was messing up with my head?"

"That could be too..."

"Noah!"

"Look, we've been around in circles if we're discussing a history that weren't clear. Unless we have to wait for your returning memories or we have to interrogate your brother and Van Kleiss, we won't go anywhere near the answers."

"I know, it's just...I just want to know the answer, okay?"

"Do you really want to know the answer, if it's out there?"

"..." Rex was muted for a while and then he answered, "Maybe...I'm just afraid of the result."

"Let's go back to make other theories. If Van Kleiss is lying, his reasons were too obvious. If your brother really caused the Nanite event, we haven't got any clue why he did that."

"Was he proud of his project that he endangered the world to it?"

"But he also loved that project that he gave it to you."

"And if it's true, why my brother relied on ZAG-RS to answer the questions? It was as if when that artificial intelligent lost its memories, either Van Kleiss wiped the memory when we fight it or César did it when we interrogated him?"

"Maybe he should think back the reason why he hid all of those things from you. What if..." Noah paused for a while, "What if you caused it?"

"What?"

"I'm not saying you're the bad guy here. But it would make more sense if you're accidentally causing it. You mentioned once that after the nanites injection, you had 'side effects' later and then everything went chaos. Your brother was trying to hide the truth. No one had known about it and your brother took the blame to keep you safe. Even if doesn't fit maybe this one will."

"Which?" Rex asked.

Noah continued, "We remember that he and Van Kleiss used to work together for creating the nanites…though eventually something happened there's disagreement between the scientists, there's a splinter group, etc. When they clashed you were injured. Because César was stubbornly trying to save you, he forced the nanite project; all the hard work and glory were wasted for his little brother. Van Kleiss was so disappointed with him, because those nanites were meant for something more powerful…but César gave it to a dying boy. So, Kleiss considered your brother as a traitor and said it to you that 'He's not the man you think he is'."

Rex looked down and pondered the whole scenario.

But then Noah stated another theory that made him loss his warm feeling immediately, "-or maybe he caused the whole Nanite explosion because he's just plain clumsy."

"Well…." Rex winced.

"But I guess César was the type of guy who would have thought he created something awesome, but in the end he didn't realize that it turned out destructive. If he was hiding his crime, I think he's too busy making machines or other inventions to redeem his mistakes…maybe, just maybe."

"What about if César was working under Van Kleiss?"

"I don't think so. From the way he talked, Van Kleiss just recently knew that your brother survived. What I heard from your stories, he seemed to be afraid of your brother. The worst scenario would be that he was working under César, not the other way around. Plus, they hated each other too much. I guess we should cross the possibility. César called him...what? The third rated lab hack. It was as if he was bullying Van Kleiss in the past."

"-but Van Kleiss talked as if he knew more than what César told me."

"I'm more worried he talked about your mother too much."

"What…what do you mean?" Rex cringed. He had a bad feeling about that part.

"Normal villains would mention both of your parents' personality. But so far Van Kleiss mentioned about your mother more often than your father. He only mentioned your father as, 'your parents' a long time ago. He must know you and your family too well that he can compare your personality with your mother."

"Yeah, that is weird."

"I think…this is not the Darth Vader cliché, it was more like the Severus Snape cliché!"

"Noah, I had no idea what you're talking about. Who the hell is Severus Snape?"

"Do you know the 'Harry Potter' serial?"

"You're still reading that witching thick book?"

"They just ended the series, it turns out that one of the antagonist named Severus Snape had hots for the main protagonist's mother!"

"Wait Noah, you don't mean-"

Before Rex finished his sentence, "Instead the possibility of Darth Vader's cliche, the possibility that Van Kleiss would say to you 'I am your father'. It was more like what Severus Snape would say, 'I had hots for your mother but your father got in the way.'"

"Van Kleiss...and...my mom? That is so... EEEEEEEEEEEWWW!"

"Or it turns out Van Kleiss fathered you, nobody knows but your mom and him. Eventually you and César were brothers with the same mother, but different father."

Rex screamed, "NOAH!"

"...it explained why you and César had long age span."

"Oh hell no, Noah. That is so stupid! It's too...well… (I hate to admit it) but it's too telenovela! I thought you said you hated those soap plots?"

"Now you have realized how weird it is from my point of view." Noah's grin went wider.

The EVO teen growled but he continued, "Look César had taken the DNA test. It was proven that he is my brother. If he is my parent our DNA similarity should be 100 percent. If he is my biological brother with the same father and mother our DNA similarity should be 50 percent. If he's my half brother he should be 25 percent. César and I had 50 percent similarity. He is my biological brother, besides we looked alike. As for Van Kleiss, unless he had fathered César, he couldn't be my Dad...bleh."

"If your brother fake the DNA test?"

"To fake a DNA test you need other samples. Holiday and the agents had taken his sample on a heavily guarded secluded room and he was being cooperative. He had no chance to gain another samples from anywhere. No dice."

"How about if your brother turns out to be a hollow or robot with your blood, your real brother had been dead, so that was this replacement."

"This is getting weird, Noah. I understand if you're trying to make fun of me about my love for telenovela series, but you had to add sci-fi plot too? From my experience, all robots I had encountered had no memory, cold stoic and unnatural personality, adaption disability, and tendency to take commands way too seriously. César had the authority over ZAG-RS, which to me is something that a robot or hollow or ghost...whatever...can't do. He's real to me."

Noah laughed, "Yeah, maybe your brother was too weird but his craziness seemed natural." Noah nodded. It seemed he enjoyed playing with Rex's mind than speaking his idea seriously. But we couldn't deny that Van Kleiss had hots for your mom. He hated your brother because he looked more like your Dad. So he made an obsessive imagination, thinking you're his son with your mother...and all EVO-s lived happily together."

"...that's...creepy." Rex shivered, and then he shook his head, "No, my father's name is Rafael. My mother is Violeta who loved my father dearly! (I'm gonna kill that old creep, Van Kleiss)...and my brother..."

There was a pause as Rex gathered his courage to admit it.

"My brother is César. I am the youngest of the Salazars. I am Rafael and Violeta's youngest son…and César's little brother."

He felt...he felt so completed when he admit it. As if it was the greatest and right thing he'd ever done.

"It settles then." Noah suddenly stood up, "I think we had enough chat now, don't you think?"

"But...we haven't figured out if something's wrong with my brother."

"True, but we ruled out everything and we had too many evident that he cares about you. Maybe we hadn't got any answers why, but we had seen all the possibilities, isn't that enough for you?"

"I guess you're right." Rex stood up too, but before he went out following Noah who was already walking the side of the road.

Rex had finally asked, walking beside him, "So…do you think I should trust César?"

"No." Rex blinked at his friend's reply. He didn't expect that reaction after their long hours of talking and examining his brother's personality.

"You should be wary of him, but don't be suspicious."

"That sounds the same."

"Different." Noah smiled, "You can be wary of your brother, but that doesn't mean you close everything about him from your life. Like or not he's part of you. If you're suspicious you can't trust him completely, but if you're wary, you were just being careful to him. You know what they say: keep your friends close, but keep your enemies closer. I think you can live without César…but what I see, it only made you miserable. So let him into your life. Be wary of him always, one day if he is not what he appears…you'll be ready."

Rex looked the ground and then he whispered, "Do you think he will be the villain?"

"If your older brother was really evil, he probably would do that for the two things he loved: his devotion for science and you…Rex. In my opinion, his family is still number one, as seen from his creation of ZAG-RS. Even though she's an incredible Artificial Intelligent, she still had your mother's voice."

The EVO teen looked up to his human friend. After few days of pondering, he felt…completed.

"Thanks a lot, Noah." Rex smiled,

"Anytime." Noah waved him goodbye, "Good luck with your brother, Rex."

"You have no idea how much it means to me." Rex waved him back as he formed the motorcycle, the Rex Ride. His machine hovered and went back to the Providence's base.

,,, ,,, ,,,

Rex tip-toed to his brother's laboratory. To his relief César wasn't aware of his presence. In fact he fell asleep on his work. The man didn't get enough sleep last night, so he was slumbered. His head on the table sheltered by his circling arms, too tired to wake up or realizing an intruder went inside his room.

The youngest Salazar sighed at the sight, carefully walked in without waking up his brother. He placed the frappe coffee which he bought recently on his way home, on the table near his brother's hand. Rex then walk out César's private lab with a small smile crossed his face.

Few hours later, César was awakened by the distinguished smell of iced coffee. He woke up and blinked few times before he registered that there really was coffee in front of him. The card box cup of cold coffee was written with his name on it. After presuming that it was for him, he carefully sipped it.

César was stunned.

The taste was familiar… It was caramel Frappe coffee. It reminded him of his father, the scientist named Rafael Salazar. Like most common Argentinians, his father loved coffee. He remembered when he was a small kid pondering his father's work and teaching him how to brew one. The taste and unique aroma of the coffee brought pleasant memories…

,,, ,,, ,,,

Rex felt lighter than the earlier morning. He never thought rambling theories with Noah could make him this better. The training weren't as hard as before. He completed most of the task better than last morning. Six and Holiday were more relaxed with his progress. But after he went out from the simulation room, his nanites were suddenly reacted. It received a signal from somewhere. It also translated the signal codes and projected into Rex's language.

"Thank you…for the coffee."

The evo teen blinked when he recognized the signal signature. It was from César. Rex then wondered if he could communicate back with him. So he closed his eyes and created message through his nanites.

"You're welcome."Rex made his nanites replied.

Somehow he could feel César feeling surprised. Perhaps he wasn't expecting a quick reply. It was as if you're sending a message in internet which was meant for some unnecessary greeting, and suddenly there's a reply message out of the blue.

It felt familiar…like a déjà vu. Maybe he had done this thing, this sort of secret code with his brother when he was injected with nanites for the first time.

"How did you know it was me?" Rex asked.

"I saw your writing. But what convinced me that it came from you was the flavor. _Papá_ loved caramel Frappe coffee. It was uncanny that you and he had the same coffee flavor preference."

"Like father like son, I guess." Rex chukled, "Did _Mamá_ like coffee too?"

"Sadly, she hated it. Even she forced _Papá_ stop drinking coffee. Which is a sad thing because _Papá_'s coffee is so good. He could make the _Café__ con __leche_ or it was known was _Cortitos con leche. __It's the _espresso shots with hot milk."

Rex laughed asking, _"__¿Por qué?"_

Suddenly, the teen EVO had the urge to return to his older brother's laboratory. Without thinking further, his legs were running to that direction, while his nanites kept translating the code message.

"She loved healthy food. She thought caffeine won't do well for him. He was already on his late 40's when you were ten."

…and suddenly he opened the lab door.

César blinked when he was away from the communicator device.

"Hey." Rex asked with a slight reassuring smile.

"H-hey." His older brother replied awkwardly.

Perhaps Noah was right, César was too comfort with his own world that he rarely communicate with outsiders. But communicating through nano robots wouldn't be the same with communicating face to face with the person. Maybe his older brother was too afraid to face the reality.

"Did you sleep well?" Rex asked serenely as if their last night's argument didn't happen. He went to César's table and sat near him, startling the elder.

"Well, uh…yeah!"

"Glad you like the coffee."

"But why did you buy one for me?" César looked away, "I thought…you're still mad at me."

Rex shrugged, "I can't hate you forever. You are my bro after all."

César looked back at his younger brother, his mouth slightly agape. But then he gave his little brother a weak smile.

"So we're cool now?"

"Even though you can't tell me everything… Yeah, I guess we're cool."

"Not exactly everything." César rubbed the back of his neck, "Someday I'll tell you the reason and the whole truth. But you were right. I shouldn't hide you from all of your childhood memories. I think I can take you to visit _Abuela_ in our summer resort in Mexico to make up everything I did someday."

"_Abuela_?" Rex startled, "We had a grandma?"

…So this was the reason why César ask Rex to come with him to Mexico. He wanted him to visit their relatives together!

"Well, not exactly but…"

Meh, close enough…

"Take us there now!" Rex suddenly demanded his older brother with a huge grin plastered his face. At last! There's another piece of his past and he wouldn't let it slipped from him that easily.

Rex suggested his brother, "You and me should go together with your research pod! This is time we should break away from this cramp Providence for few days and visit our relatives. Let's just say, that this is going to be our little summer break!"

César jumped back, he felt surprised by his little brother's reaction. He gulped, "You…you really want to go with me alone? But we had to tell the Providence for permission. Your agent caretaker wouldn't be happy to hear this."

"That's the thing." Rex groaned, looking at his brother, "You and I were too busy with each other's task. We had no time to do something together."

The elder Salazar amused at Rex's confession. Their last argument still wounded his mind. But here he was...with a chance to atone his broken relationship with his little brother. César suddenly placed a hand on Rex's shoulder.

When Rex looked up, he saw César was grinning widely, "Pack your things. I'm busting you out of here…at least for few days to visit _Abuela_."

Then Rex grinned back, a goofy grinned that resembled his older brother's.

,,, ,,, ,,,

Six sighed when he watched the security camera last night. Apparently Rex's previous argument with César was caught in security camera without their knowing. The agent was carefully watched the video over and over again.

"Chief…" Bobo called, "You've been watching that for seventeenth times."

"I told you there's something wrong with that man."

"I noticed that too, Six." Dr. Holiday commented, "But if Rex didn't want to tell his problem, then we can't do anything. From the way we see it, Rex's emotion went out of control and his nanites react. His brother was trying to calm him down but he accidentally hurt him. But eventually he threw his device away, didn't he? It was just misunderstanding."

"-and that kid didn't tell anything about this."

"It's not our business then."

"Why? What does that man had that he was worth to protect?"

"He's his family."

"That doesn't proof anything, compared with the things he would've done to him."

"It's the same when I'm protecting my sister and when you were protecting Rex when he did something stupid."

Six went silent, he couldn't argue with that.

Suddenly the alarmed went on. Before they could reacted, from the window they saw the superluminal spacecraft that belonged to César Salazar flew off to the sky.

SWOOOOOSH!

"I have a baaaad...feeling about this." Bobo went awe when he looked at the flying laboratory.

Holiday was quickly on her toes, checking the computer. She then reported, "Six, Rex's traces went off."

"Again?" Six growled.

Holiday sighed, "Yes Six, I think Rex went off again…in that space ship with his brother."

"Where did he go?"

"Uh….you guys won't believe it but…" Bobo called the scientist and the agent to come and see his chart, "I think he went to Mexico."

"What?"

"I told you that we shouldn't trust that man!" the agent barked.

But before Holiday argued back they received a signal and suddenly the main giant monitor in that room turned on, revealing Rex. He used a video conversation from his brother's computer.

"Hey, guys! I'm gonna off with my brother for a while. We're visiting _Abuela._"

"Arque...what?" Sometimes Bobo was irritated with Rex's Spanish words.

"We're visiting our grandma!"

Six and Holiday exchanged looks, both of them were feeling confused.

"So sorry for the short notice, but I couldn't wait to visit my childhood place with César. I'll be back in few days or a week tops! I promise. Can you make a distraction while I'm gone?"

The green clad agent was about to protest that is until he felt a painful pinch on his back from Holiday's petite hand.

The doctor smiled to the monitor and nodded, "Sure thing, Rex. Have fun all right?"

"Kid..." Six called but he received a disapproval glare from Holiday. He then sighed, "Just be careful...all right?"

"I will, Six...thanks." Rex smiled.

...And the monitor went off.

"Now, that wasn't so hard to have a little faith, was it?" Holiday smiled proudly at the agent.

"No... But if something happen to Rex, I'll make that man regretted the day he was born."

"Lighten up, Six." Holiday gave a wry smile. The Doctor pulled a piece chip and then hand it out to the EVO monkey, "Okay Bobo, you're our decoy now. Here's Rex's tracker. You know what to do with it."

The EVO chimpanzee grinned deviously.

,,, ,,, ,,,

"Are...you sure you're letting me have the table for sleep?" Rex asked his older brother when they successfully broke out of the Providence main base. It was already night, the ship was set into auto-pilot.

"Yeah, you should sleep on it."

"What about you?"

His older brother shrugged lightly, "I'll sleep on the floor."

"What…? Are you okay with that?"

César laughed, "Yeah, I'm getting used to it, don't worry. When you're little, you were always gone inside my lab, playing with my items. But sometimes you were too tired and I let you sleep on the table while I sleep on the floor. It surely brings a lot of memories." The elder was relishing those memories while he placed his pillow on the floor and placed his head on top of it.

Rex watched his brother who had slumbered to his dream world in few minutes. When he looked at César's sleeping form, despite his last conversation with Noah, his older brother didn't look so threatening. One day even if his affection turned out to be a lie, at least enjoy it while it last.

"_Buenas noches, _César_…" _Rex said, lying down on the table and he was smiling in content.

"_Buenas noches,_ _mijo_." César mumbling those words faintly.

,,, ,,, ,,,

**Me: Thank you for reading, please review or share your thoughts about César etc. Some of the facts are genuine internet research. This is actually a harder piece than "Ambiguous" because it was long…and I felt weird writing this because I don't like coffee.**

**Bing: You don't like coffee? (gasp*)**

**Me: Unfortunately, yes. But me and Bing had a lot fun making this. **


End file.
